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Why Bush went to war awaits honest answer. « Thread Started

Daily newsbrief journal for June 2004, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Why Bush went to war awaits honest answer. « Thread Started

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:09 am

Why Bush went to war awaits honest answer. « Thread Started on Jun 20, 2004, 6:38pm »--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Why Bush went to war awaits honest answer. This is the only article in this thread View: Original Format Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.gw-bush, alt.politicsDate: 2004-06-20 09:51:33 PST From The Miami Herald, 6/20/04:http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/new....5853392986miami::rivrvu@ix.netcom.com&KRD_RM=7oqppqpuprtqtsrwwsnnnnnnnn|Harry|YCARL HIAASENWhy we went to war awaits honest answer It's a good thing that Dick Cheney's pacemaker doesn't have a built-inpolygraph.The guy just can't stick to the truth.Last Monday he gave a speech in which he declared for the umpteenthtime that Saddam Hussein had ``long-established ties with al Qaeda.''Two days later, the bipartisan commission investigating the 9/11attacks reported precisely the opposite, shooting another hole in theBush administration's flimsy rationale for invading Iraq.The White House has steadfastly claimed that Hussein maintained closeand sympathetic connections with al Qaeda operatives.Staff reports released last week by the commission say that no suchties -- long-standing or otherwise -- can be found.This isn't good news for the White House, which has righteously toutedthe Iraqi invasion as a blow against a strategic al Qaeda ally.The vice president was, and continues to be, the loudest peddler ofthis myth.While President Bush has never publicly suggested that Hussein playeda role in the Sept. 11 plot, Cheney hasn't discounted the idea.As recently as January, he contended there was no proof ''one way oranother'' regarding an Iraqi connection to the suicide hijackings.Yet the 9/11 panel had very little trouble reaching a conclusion.It found no ''collaborative relationship'' between the Hussein regimeand al Qaeda and ''no credible evidence'' that Hussein was involved inthe Sept. 11 conspiracy.Moreover, the oft-cited April 2001 meeting between hijacker MohamedAtta and an Iraqi intelligence officer never occurred, according tothe commission staff.Telephone records and other evidence positively locate Atta here inFlorida at the time he was supposedly in Prague, conspiring with theIraqi operative.The 9/11 panel, which includes Democrats and Republicans, portraysOsama bin Laden as the main architect of the Sept. 11 plot.Not a single e-mail, cell phone call or even a fruit basket was foundto have passed personally from bin Laden to Hussein, either before orafter attack.According to the commission, bin Laden did meet with an Iraqiintelligence officer in 1994, but nothing came of it.The al Qaeda leader is reported ''to have requested space to establishtraining camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but Iraqapparently never responded,'' according to the commission staff.Cheney's nonfactsIn recent months, as the 9/11 panel's investigation has unfolded, Bushhimself has said little about the increasingly imaginary Hussein-alQaeda connection.Cheney, however, hasn't eased up.Never one to let facts clutter a good speech, the vice president ispitching the same line today that he did in advance of the war.And no one pitched the war more enthusiastically -- to Congress, toforeign leaders, to Bush himself.The vice president is a persuasive fellow, and lots of folks believedwhat he told them.Maybe he believed it himself.Unfortunately, the reasons given for invading Iraq, the reasonseventually embraced and promoted by the president, have been exposedone after another as bunk.Hussein's nuclear program?Can't seem to find one.Banned biological weapons?Can't find them, either.Chemical stash?Ditto.To all those never-minds, we now add one more.The theory of a sinister Hussein-bin Laden covenant has beenofficially discredited, leaving the Bush administration batting .000on its pre-war hype.We weren't just misled, we were duped.Most Iraqis feel the same way.Fifteen months after the invasion, a paltry 2 percent of Iraqicitizens consider U.S. forces to be liberators.That's according to a survey arranged by the Coalition ProvisionalAuthority -- our own guys.Speculative, unprovenFollowing last week's disclosures, President Bush insisted there hadbeen a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, though he offered nonew details.He noted the current presence in Iraq of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, thenotorious Jordanian terrorist who has sought help from al Qaeda.As for Cheney, he refuses to back away from his previous claims, nomatter how speculative or unproven.In a doomed effort to justify this messy and sapping war, the vicepresident is sticking to his original script.So far, 832 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, and many more will die inthe long months ahead.Most Americans are eager for us to pull out, but how we got there is aquestion that still awaits a full and honest answer.
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